2 Colo. Code Regs. § 410-1-4

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 1, January 10, 2025

Rule 2 CCR 410-1-4 - DEFINITIONS

4.1 The following terms are defined in section 37-90-103, C.R.S., and these terms, whether capitalized or not, shall have identical meaning where used in these Rules:

Alternate Point of Diversion Well, Aquifer, Artesian Well, Board or Board of Directors, Designated Ground Water, Designated Ground Water Basin, Ground Water Commission or Commission, Ground Water Management District or District, Historical Water Level, Person, Replacement Well, Subdivision, Supplemental Well, Underground Water and Ground Water, Waste, and Well.

4.2 Specific Definitions Unless expressly stated otherwise the following terms when used in these Rules, whether capitalized or not, shall have the meaning indicated in this Rule.

4.2.1 "Additional Well" means a well permitted under Rule 5.3.9 or Rule 5.4.7 wherein an additional well, together with the previously permitted well(s) withdrawing ground water under provisions of Rule 5.3 or 5.4 may withdraw the allowed average annual amount of withdrawal of the previously permitted well(s).

4.2.2 "Allocation" means quantifying designated ground water for which the right to withdraw such designated ground water exists on the basis of overlying land ownership pursuant to section 37-90-107(7), C.R.S., 37-90-111(5), C.R.S., and Rule 5.3, and Rule 5.4.

4.2.3 "Allowed Maximum Annual Amount of Withdrawal" means the maximum amount of designated ground water in acre-feet that a permittee may withdraw from a well in a calendar year.

4.2.4 "Allowed Average Annual Amount of Withdrawal" means the average amount of designated ground water in acre-feet that a permittee may withdraw from a well in a calendar year.

4.2.5 "Applicant" means that person or entity who applies to the Ground Water Commission for a well permit or for a change in water right or for any other permitting action from the Commission pursuant to these Rules.

4.2.6 "Appropriation" means the application of a specified portion of designated ground water to a beneficial use pursuant to the procedures prescribed by law.

4.2.7 "Artificial Recharge" means the intentional introduction of water into any underground formation.

4.2.8 "Bedrock Aquifers" means Denver Basin bedrock aquifers as identified in Rule 4.2.19 and those other aquifers within the Designated Basins considered for appropriation under Rule 5.4.

4.2.9 "Beneficial Use" is the use of that amount of designated ground water that is reasonable and appropriate under reasonably efficient practices to accomplish without waste the purpose for which the appropriation is lawfully made and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, includes the impoundment of water for firefighting or storage for any purpose for which an appropriation is lawfully made, including recreational, fishery, or wildlife purposes.

4.2.10 "Change of Water Right" means a change in acreage served, volume of appropriation, pumping rate, well location, place, time or type of use by any water right, either conditional or final, change of an allocation, or any combination of these changes including commingling of waters under such water rights.

4.2.11 "Commingling" means to irrigate common acreage with water from multiple wells.

4.2.12 "Commission Staff or Staff" means an employee or agent of the Colorado Division of Water Resources authorized by the State Engineer to act or assist in discharging the duties of the Commission.

4.2.13 "Conditional Water Right" means a right to perfect a water right under the provisions of the law with a certain priority upon the completion of the appropriation upon which such water right is to be based.

4.2.14 "Confining Layer" means all or part of a formation which impedes the flow of ground water from an adjacent aquifer.

4.2.15 "Confined Well" means a well completed in or producing from an aquifer or portion of an aquifer in which the static water level in the well rises due to hydrostatic pressure above where it was first encountered in the aquifer.

4.2.16 "Contiguous Parcel" means that portion of the overlying land that is in contact with itself so that no part is totally separated.

4.2.17 "Crop Consumptive Use" means the total amount of water taken up by vegetation for transpiration or building of plant tissue, plus the evaporation from the adjacent soil or from intercepted precipitation on the plant foliage.

4.2.18 "Cylinder of Appropriation" means a hypothetical cylinder centered around the location of an existing or proposed well which, for a specific aquifer, contains a volume of water equal to one hundred times the annual appropriation of an existing well or the allowed average annual amount of withdrawal of a proposed well. The radius of the cylinder of appropriation is computed from the following formula:

Radius of Cylinder (ft.) = the square root of:

43,560 (ft. sq./acres) x withdrawal (acre ft./yr.) x 100 (yr.)

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Specific yield x Saturated Aquifer Materials (ft.) x 3.1416

where withdrawal means the annual appropriation or allowed average annual amount of withdrawal.

4.2.19 "Denver Basin Bedrock Aquifers" or "Denver Basin Aquifers" means the Upper Dawson, Lower Dawson, Denver, Upper Arapahoe, Lower Arapahoe and Laramie-Fox Hills aquifers as defined in the Denver Basin Rules, 2 CCR 402-6 (January 1, 1986) and as revised in Rule 5.3.1.1.

4.2.20 "Historical Withdrawal" means the average annual volumetric amount of designated ground water withdrawn by a well including any replacement well(s) during the life of the well permit. This amount shall be computed under the provisions of Rule 7.10 . These terms differ from the term "the historical depletion of the aquifer" in the sense that the amount of historical depletion of the aquifer is equal to the amount of historical withdrawal from the aquifer minus the portion of the withdrawal which percolates back to the aquifer.

4.2.21 "Large Capacity Well" means any well which is permitted to put designated ground water to beneficial use provided the said permit is not for a small capacity well pursuant to section 37-90-105, C.R.S.

4.2.22 "Nontributary Ground Water" means that designated ground water, the withdrawal of which will not, within one hundred years of continuous withdrawal, deplete the flow of a natural stream, or deplete an alluvial aquifer, or deplete any aquifer listed in Rules 5.4.1.B, C, or D, at an annual rate greater than one tenth of one percent of the annual rate of withdrawal. The determination of whether designated ground water is nontributary shall be based on aquifer conditions existing at the time of permit application; except that, in recognition of the de minimis amount of water discharging from the Dawson, Denver, Arapahoe, and Laramie Fox Hills aquifers into surface streams due to artesian pressure, in determining whether designated ground water of the Dawson, Denver, Arapahoe, and Laramie Fox Hills aquifers is nontributary, it shall be assumed that the hydrostatic pressure level in each such aquifer has been lowered at least to the top of that aquifer throughout that aquifer.

4.2.23 "Not-nontributrary Ground Water" means designated ground water located within those portions of the Dawson, Denver, Arapahoe, and Laramie-Fox Hills aquifers within a designated basin, the withdrawal of which will, within one hundred years of continuous withdrawal, deplete the flow of a natural stream, or deplete an alluvial aquifer, at an annual rate greater than one-tenth of one percent of the annual rate of withdrawal.

4.2.24 "Overappropriated Aquifer" means an aquifer for which the net average annual depletion rate of designated ground water is considered to be in excess of the allowable net average annual depletion rate for that aquifer as set by the Commission.

4.2.25 "Overlying Land" means that land owned by the Applicant, or by another who has consented to the Applicant's withdrawal of designated ground water, which overlies the bedrock aquifers as described in Rule 5.3 and 5.4 of these Rules, and which the Applicant requests be considered in determining the allowed average annual amount of withdrawal sought in the application.

4.2.26 "Priority" means the date that a water right or a conditional water right will be entitled to use designated ground water in relation to other water rights and conditional water rights deriving their supply from a common source.

4.2.27 "Replacement Plan" means a detailed program to increase the supply of designated ground water available for beneficial use in a designated ground water basin or portion thereof for the purpose of preventing material injury to other water rights by the development of new or alternate means or points of diversion, by a pooling of water resources, by water exchange projects, by providing substitute supplies of water, by the development of new sources of water, or by any other appropriate means consistent with the rules adopted by the Commission. "Replacement Plan" does not include the salvage of designated ground water by the eradication of phreatophytes, nor does it include the use of precipitation water collected from land surfaces that have been made impermeable, thereby increasing the runoff, but not adding to the existing supply of designated ground water.

4.2.28 "Republican River Compact Compliance Wells" are wells acquired or constructed within Colorado for the sole purpose of offsetting stream depletions to the Republican River and its tributaries in order to comply with Colorado's allocations under the Republican River Compact, including the Final Settlement Stipulation filed in Kansas v. Nebraska and Colorado, No. 126 Original.

4.2.29 "Saturated Aquifer Material(s)" means those aquifer materials containing sufficient water that can be drained by gravity and placed to beneficial use.

4.2.30 "Saturated Aquifer Thickness" means the thickness of an aquifer extending from the top of the water table to the bottom of the aquifer.

4.2.31 "Specific Yield" means the volume of designated ground water which can be drained by gravity from a volume of saturated aquifer material, divided by the volume of the saturated aquifer material. This ratio can be expressed as a percentage.

4.2.32 "Three Mile Circle" or "Circle" means a circle with a radius of three miles centered at the location of the well or proposed well used to appropriate designated ground water from the Ogallala Aquifer of the Northern High Plains Designated Ground Water Basin.

4.2.33 "Waiver of Claim of Injury" means a written affidavit given by a well owner to an Applicant waiving all claims of any injury to an existing water right as a result of the approval of Applicant's request by the Commission.

4.2.34 "Water Right" means a right to use in accordance with its priority a certain portion of the designated ground water by reasons of the appropriation of the same, or the right to use a certain portion of designated ground water by reason of an allocation.

4.2.35 "Well Field" means two or more wells, which are permitted to withdraw designated ground water from the same aquifer in any combination thereof up to the full permitted amount of the aggregate appropriations.

4.2.36 "Well Owner" means any person or his agent who holds the title or other rights of property in a well.

4.2.37 "Wire to Water Efficiency" or "Overall Pumping Plant Efficiency" means the ratio of the water energy output from the pump divided by the input energy to the power plant expressed as a percentage.

4.3 Other Definitions - All other words used herein shall be given their usual customary and accepted meaning. Terms that were not defined in this Rule which are defined in the statutes or other rules of the State Engineer shall use the meaning given therein. All words of a technical nature specific to the water well industry shall be given the meaning which is generally accepted in said industry.

2 CCR 410-1-4

42 CR 24, December 25, 2019, effective 1/14/2020

45 CR 17, September 10, 2022, effective 9/30/2022